40 years after integration, Clemson struggles with diversity

Forty years ago, a story in the Saturday Evening Post praised Clemson University for achieving what other Southern universities had failed -- "integration with dignity."

When black architecture student Harvey Gantt walked out of Tillman Hall on his first day of class in 1963, absent were the violent protests seen at the University of Mississippi months before.

Gantt's story -- how he moved on to become the first black mayor of Charlotte, N.C., a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and a partner in one of the city's most successful architectural firms -- is a source of pride for Clemson University and South Carolina.

But Clemson still is struggling to give meaning to the legacy school officials honored Tuesday, the anniversary of Gantt's enrollment.

The school that was the first of South Carolina's public colleges to integrate has remained one of its least integrated.

School officials say they're trying to attract more black students through new, innovative programs, but rising academic standards and geographical isolation -- the school is in a small, rural, overwhelmingly white town -- make it difficult.

In a state where 30 percent of the population is black, observers and state officials say Clemson can do better and must now put words into action.

"A sustained effort will help them boost their numbers," said Commission on Higher Education spokesman Charlie FitzSimons. "We don't want to see Clemson put this issue on the back burner."

Clemson was on the cutting edge in South Carolina when it admitted Gantt, a Charleston native who transferred from Iowa State University.

Since then, it has lagged behind other state schools.

Black enrollment at Clemson has averaged around 6 to 7 percent since 1970. Undergraduate enrollment of African-Americans peaked at about 8 percent in 1993, but slid to about 7 percent in the fall of 2001.

By comparison, black students made up 16 percent of students attending Columbia's University of South Carolina. USC integrated just months after Clemson.

Clemson also struggles to attract black faculty members, who make up about 4 percent of the professors.

Dennis Pruitt, vice president for student and alumni affairs at USC, said having a significant number of minorities draws other students to the Columbia campus.

"We're really blessed because we integrated fast and furiously and developed a critical mass of (minority) students pretty quickly," he said.

At Clemson, Kirby said increased academic standards are to blame for recent drops in minority enrollment.

One way Clemson is fashioning itself into an elite institution is by raising its mean SAT score, which topped 1200 for entering freshman last fall.

The mean SAT score for black students in South Carolina in 2002 was 839, compared to 1034 for white students.

"If you don't use racial preferences, and our system doesn't, it's very hard to get those numbers up," Kirby said. "You have to fight upstream."

Clemson faces stiff competition as it tries to attract top black students. The school must go head-to-head with such regional powerhouses as Duke and the University of North Carolina, not to mention Ivy League schools with more flexible admissions standards.

It's difficult to attract top out-of-state black students, even though in fall 2002, about 34 percent of Clemson's freshman class came from outside South Carolina.

Others say rigorous standards aren't a legitimate excuse.

"I don't buy the notion that you can't have diversity and excellence," said Frank Matthews, a Clemson alumnus and publisher of the journal Black Issues in Higher Education.

Matthews said schools such as Georgia Tech and North Carolina State have found ways to boost minority enrollment without sacrificing standards.

Those schools have formed partnerships with historically black colleges to make it easier for students to transfer. Matthews says Clemson trustees should consider similar strategies.

"It's not rocket science," he said. "What it takes is a real commitment, and that needs to be put into practice."

The state's Commission on Higher Education agrees.

The commission sets target minority enrollment percentages to financially reward schools that reflect the makeup of the state's population. Under the formula, those with smaller percentages of minorities receive less state money.

Kirby said the formula is unfair because Clemson would meet the target only if it attracted every college-bound black student in South Carolina with an SAT score of 1000 or better.

But commission spokesman FitzSimons said Clemson has made a "business decision" that minority recruitment just isn't worth the lost revenue each year.

"With all due respect to Clemson and all the meaningful things they've done, they should be better off than they are," he said.

Frank Gillens, a 1996 Clemson graduate and a member of the school's Black Alumni Council, said some alumni are starting to wonder what's going on at their alma mater.

"It's a puzzle to me and some of the people I went to school with," Gillens said. "We had a small group then, and it's a smaller group now."

Clemson officials say critics should look to their recent efforts to turn the numbers around.

The school has developed several programs it hopes will increase the pool of minority applicants meeting admissions criteria.

"We don't need to try to fix our minority problems by tinkering with our admissions policy. We need to make it more attractive for minority students to apply," Kirby said.

Two initiatives, the Emerging Scholars program and an SAT preparation course, offer help to students in South Carolina school districts with large black populations.

"Rather than lowering the bar, we need to get students up to where the bar is," Kirby said.

The Emerging Scholars program, launched last summer, brought 47 high school sophomores from Hampton, Allendale and Bamberg counties to Clemson to learn about the college experience.

Those students will spend part of the next two summers at the school, learning what it takes to make it in college.

"We focus on demystifying college," said Byron Wiley, director of access and equity at Clemson and program director.

Wiley ran a similar program in Pennsylvania. He said it was a great success.

"We tell high school counselors we would prefer not to get their straight-A students," he said.

"We want students who have potential but (who) without help probably otherwise wouldn't make it."

Clemson also has hired the Princeton Review, a private test preparation company, to coach black high school students.

And the "Call Me Mister" program, in partnership with Benedict and Claflin colleges, awards scholarships to black male students pursuing teaching degrees.

School officials are showcasing these programs this week at a national conference Clemson is hosting on black student achievement and retention.

Wiley said he's optimistic the school can make a positive impact in the lives of high school students, regardless of how many end up at Clemson."

"For us, that would be the frosting on the cake, and we hope many will elect to go to Clemson.